Backyard beer games return to TSN and RDS

The beer brand has evolved the program for year two, increasing engagement and expanding the number of stops on its tour.

Coors Light is encouraging weekend athletes to step out of the backyard, and onto national TV, for the second edition of the Coors Light Games.

Aimed at millennials, the games are being broadcast on TSN and RDS, with media on the campaign from MEC, creative from Rethink and PR from Citizen Relations.

Regional qualifiers for the Coors Light Games start in Quebec on June 12, with events also running during the summerin Ontario and British Columbia through the end of August. Competitors at each qualifier will battle to win games like water luge, splatter dodgeball and bubble soccer.

Leslie Malcolm, marketing manager, Coors Light, said fan interest and a boost to sales numbers in key markets were the driving forces behind bringing the games back for a second year but said she wouldn’t share numbers for sales jumps.

The Coors Light Games is the biggest program of the year for the beer brand, hosting the event during summer, or “show time” as Malcolm said the SKU refers to the summer months.

“A program like the Coors Light Games is targeting millennials. It is focused on the idea that adults don’t want to grow up, and this taps into that,” she said. “Our target is playing these games anyways; this gives them the opportunity to keep doing it on a larger scale.”

Athleteswhoqualify will compete in the national Coors Light Games at the end of August. The final event will be hosted by TSN’s Cabral “Cabbie” Richards and Tessa Bonhomme and in French by RDS’ Phil Branch. TSN will broadcast the best of the Coors Light Games on Thursday Sept. 1 at 10:30 p.m. and RDS will air a 30-minute recap on Saturday Sept. 3 at 7 p.m. Last year’s national broadcast was watched by an AMA of 250,000 viewers, said Malcolm.

According to Malcolm, this year the program has been changed to expand the number of tour stops, as well as increasing consumer interaction throughout the program on digital, in order to connect with the target where they are spending their media time.

As part of the digital expansion, the brand is giving fans the chance to participate to the finals by engaging on Coors Light Canda’s social channels throughout the summer using #bravethegames. Fans can also win by finding a gold can in specially marked cases of Coors Light.

“The biggest goal for us this year is about driving engagement,” she said. “In year one we saw really great engagement, and now in year two as we build, it is really about engaging with consumers. We are asking our fans to talk with us and share with us all summer long.”